Railway-signal.



No. 727,678. PATBNTED 'MAY 12,-, 11903. A..W. OLUND. l

RAILWAY SIGNAL.

APPLICATION FILED 00T. Z0, 1902.

No MODEL.

' WITNESSE Q5. fu/w. i

mi mams 51ans co, #NoYaLm-lo. wAsmNcmN. n I l PATENT Patented May 1.2, 1902.

OFFICE.

RAlLwAY-SIG NAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 727,678, dated May 12, 1903.

' Application led October 20. 1902-1 Serial No. 127,935. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, AXEL WILLIAM OLUND, a citizen ofthe United States, residing at Richwood, in the county of Becker and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Signals 5 and I do declare the'following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in railway-signals; and the main object ofthe invention is to enable trains meeting on a single track to signal one to another while yet far enough apart to avoid collision. This object I attain bythe novel construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a top or plan View of a portion of track provided with my signal device. Fig. 2 is a side view of Fig. l with fractions ofv two meeting locomotives thereon, the distance between which is supposed to be a thousand feet or much more than that. Fig. 8 is an enlarged view of the portion of Fig. 2t nearaboveit. Fig. LLis across-section of they rail in Fig. 2 at mark a or near the fork 83. Fig. 5 is an enlargement of a portion of Fig. 2 right above it, showing a modification.l

Referring to the drawings by reference characters, l'represents the ties, 2 and-3 the rails of a single track, such as is often used forl trains to run over in opposite directions7 one train being regularly side-tracked while the other train passes over it; but this regularity is often disturbed by unexpected delays of the one train or theother or by sending an extra train on such dangerous section of the road or from other causes two trains may be dangerously approaching each other on a single track. Along the `rail 2- I stretch a chain, wire, or cable 4, of which one end is secured at 5 to the end of a bolt 6, sliding in a iiXed eyebolt 7 and is encircled by a coil-spring 8, compressed between the eyebolt 7 and the head 9 of the sliding bolt. The other end of the cable is secured to the lower arm'lQ of a lever 10 l1, fulcrumed on a stud 12, secured in the rail, or in a post (notshown) driven in 'the ground, or any other stationary part' near the rail. In like manner may also the eyebolt 7 and the levers 14, 15,and'l6 be pivoted to the rail, or to a post,'or to brackets like 13, secured upon the ends ofthe'ties The cable-section shown may be of the greatest possible operative length, and if not long enough to cover the dangerous section of the road then more cable-sections maybe stretched farther along the road. To each cable-section is secured the bottom ends of as many levers 14 as are necessary or desirable. To the cable is also secured the arm` or lever 15 of a mutilated gear-whee1'17, meshing'with a similar wheel 18, rocking on the pivots It and 20, respectively. On'the pivot 20 is also .pivoted the lever or arm 16, which is normally held by the spring 2l against the pin 22, in which the spring may be secured.

. 23 is a pin fixed in therail or other stationary part to limit the throw of the lever- 15.

24'is a spring engaging in a notch like 25, but at a suitable place -ofv the wheel"17 to hold it against accidental* turning when the arm 16 is folded down, as shown in dotted lines 16X.

Upon the same side (either right or left side) of the two locomotives A and B is pivoted a lever or pendant 26,moving in line withthe levers 14.' From said'pendant eX- tends the cord 27 to the -bell 28. 29 and 30 are stops to limit the swinging of the pendant. At the opposite side of -the locomotive or forward car of the train is fixed a depending arm 3l, which moves4 along-'fthe road in line with the levers l1 and 16.

The opposite rail 3 is provided with a similar signal device,turned, however, in the opposite direction, as iudicatedby' the position of the spring and bolt 8 and 9 and cable 4 on rail 3 in Fig. 1. The rest of the signal being the same as on rail 2 is omitted on rail3 in the drawings.

The operation of the signal is as follows: Supposing that train or engine A gets first upon the dangerous road-section indicated, either the overhanging ilange of its wheels or IOO the arms 31 then fold down the lever 11 from the normal dotted position to the full-line position. This pulls on the cable 4, compresses .the spring 8, and raises into an upright position the lever 16 and all the levers 14, which latter may be of great numbers along the cable and which normally occupy a downfolded position like 14X and 16X. Those levers are then held upright by the ball or knot 32, which is fixed on the cable, resting against the side of the spring-fork 33,through which it was forced by the folding of the lever 11. lf there is then no other train on the road-section, train A in leaving the section folds down the lever 16 to the position 16X and thereby pulling on the cable folds down all the levers 14, pulls the ball 32 through the fork to the position 32X, so that the spring 8 will hold the lever 11 upright for the next train coming after to likewise operate the signal; but if while the train A is on the roadsection the train B comes along in the opposite direction its bell 2S will be rung by the contact of the pendant 26 with the levers 14, and thus give alarm-signal to the engineer on train B, and if train B comes first upon the road-section it will in like manner raise all the levers 14 on the rail 3, and thus cause the bell on train A to give alarm, so that really both trains are notified simultaneously and can avoid accident by going very slow and whistle until they can communicate and agree which of them shall go back and sidetrack while the other train passes. Whenever a second train enters upon the road-section in question, it will fold the lever 16 into the position 16XX in Fig. 3, and after passing over it the spring 21 returns the lever to its upright position. This does not affect the gears and the cable.

Instead of the fork 33 l may use a springpressed dog 34, pivoted at 35 and having two notches 36 37, engaging alternately the lower end of the lever 11 to hold it respectively in the folded and upright position.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An automatic railway-signal comprising in combination a series of levers 14.- pivoted near the rail so as to assume a folded position, and an upright position for ringing a bell on a passing train, a cable, wire or chain operatively connected to said levers, a spring operating at one end of the cable to stretch it, and at the other end of the cable a pivoted normally upright lever 11, adapted to be folded downwardly by some portion of the train against the resistance of the spring at the other end of the cable, a yielding spring device for holding the lever 11 folded and the spring at the end of the cable overcome, and the levers 14 upright, and a pivoted lever near the spring operatively connected with the cable to overcome the yielding device and pull the cable in the same direction as the spring does and the train moves but being so arranged as not to affect the cable when folded by a train in the opposite direction.

2. An automatic railway-signal comprising in combination a series of levers 14 pivoted near the rail so as to assume a folded position, and an upright position for ringing a bell on a passing train, a cable, wire or chain operatively connected to said levers, a spring 0perating at one end of the cable to stretch it, and at the other end of the cable a pivoted normally upright lever 11, adapted to be folded downwardly by some portion of the train against the resistance of the spring at the other end of the cable, a spring device for holding the lever 11 folded and the spring at the end of the cable overcome, and the levers 14n upright, and a pivoted Alever near the spring, operatively connected with the cable to pull it in the same direction as the spring acts and the train moves, but so arranged as not to affect the cable when folded by a train in the opposite direction; a bell on the train and a suitable operating-lever connected with the bell and moving in a line with the levers 14, so as to be operated by them when they are in the upright position and the train is moving. A

3. In an automatic railway-signal, the combination with a cable or like means stretched along one side of the rail, the foldable levers 14C pivoted to stationary points and connected to the cable, the fixed eyebolt or guide 7, the sliding bolt 6 inserted in the guide and connected to one end of the cable, a coil-spring compressed between the eyebolt and the head of the sliding bolt, the pivoted lever l1, secured to the opposite end of the cable, a spring device adjacent thereto for holding the lever 11 folded down and the cable in a position compressing the spring at the other end of it; the mutilated meshing gears 17 and 18 mounted near the rail, the downwardlyhanging arm 15 secured to one of the gears and to the cable, the folding arm or lever 16, pivoted centrally with the other gear, a spring throwing said lever in one direction and a stop or pin 22 on the wheel to limit the motion 0f the lever given it by the spring, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

A. An automatic railway-signal comprising a continuous cable stretched along one side of the road-bed, pivoted levers mounted along the road and attached to the cable so as to be raised each with one end upwardly for the purpose of ringing a bell on the train, two levers pivoted near the rail and secured to the cable, one near each end thereof, in line with a suitable part of the train for depressing the levers, but not in line with the bellringing levers; said two levers being so arranged that when a train moving in a certain direction folds one of them down the other lever raises, and with it raises all the bell- IIO ringing levers, and when the train passes the In testimony whereof I affix my signature other or second operating-lever and folds it in presence of two Witnesses.

the first lever Will raise and al the bell-ringing levers will fold down, and suitable means AXEL WILLIAM OLUND 5 for holding the cable and thereby the bell- Witnesses:

ringing levers in folded and in raised posi- J. M. CONNELL,

tions. R. W. LONG. 

